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Asian American Protest
"Yellow Power to Yellow People" In front of court house - Oakland, California - l969
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Asian American Civil Rights Background Essay
Introduction
For many years Asian Americans had been a part of American culture, its economy, and
its history, especially in states such as New York, California, and Hawaii. Although they
had been part of the American landscape for over 100 years, many still felt the pangs of
discrimination.
Many groups trying to achieve equality in America saw the African American Civil Right
Movement as a model. Asian Americans were no different. They organized themselves
“through the power of a consolidated yellow people.” Collectively, they believed a united
“Yellow Power” movement had a better chance of achieving its goals than being in
separate groups. They decided they would incorporate strategies and tactics employed
by African Americans.
Asian Studies Programs
Up until the 1970’s most colleges and university programs did not include Asian
American studies. In fact, Asian American perspectives or experiences played no formal
role in university life. Students at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State began to
organize student strikes and protests to force the colleges and universities to include
Asian American studies programs. To achieve their goal, Asian American students of
diverse cultural backgrounds came together to take action, often times partnering with
other minority groups. These students brought attention to their cause by holding large
rallies, informational picketing, and sometimes by breaking the law through direct
confrontations such as blocking campus entrances.
Equal Educational Opportunities - Lau v. Nichols
During the 1970’s, members of the Chinese American community in San Francisco felt
that the school district ignored issues that were important to their children’s academic
success. Chinese American students only received instruction in English. Many people
within the Chinese American community felt that these students had little chance of
passing classes or furthering their education if they didn’t receive some instruction in
their primary language. A group called Chinese for Affirmative Action formed in 1969 to
address this issue of discrimination. Their goal was to force the school district to
implement a bilingual education program that would help students that did not speak
English. With help from a local community group, Chinese for Affirmative Action, the
community filed a class action suit against the school district in 1970. Kinney Kinmon
Lau, a high school student at the time, was the principal plaintiff in the lawsuit along with
12 other non-English speaking Chinese American students. The case made its way to
the Supreme Court of the United States.
Pursuit of Internment Reparations
Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US government ordered that Japanese
Americans be “evacuated” from their homes to Internment Camps far away from the
coastal cities were many had lived and worked for years. Not only were they confined
within the camps, as prisoners, but most lost their homes, a majority of their
possessions, as well as land and businesses they legally owned. In 1978, Japanese
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American activist, Fred Korematsu, led an effort to force the US government to
acknowledge the discrimination, apologize, and offer money as a means of
reimbursement for the injustice and loss of property. Nearly 10 years later, Congress
approved the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. This law authorized that each Japanese
American who was interned, and still alive, would received $20,000 to help make up for
the injustice they had endured during World War II. Congress also issued a formal
apology to the survivors.
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Facts Magazine Cover, 1971
Note: The Oriental Student Union (OSU) at Seattle Central Community College (SCCC)
decided that the SCCC administration was not moving quickly enough on the its
demands that the school hire five Asian administrators and staged a sit-in on February
9, 1971, and took over SCCC offices more forcefully on March 2, 1971.
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Lau v. Nichols
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
414 U.S. 563
Lau v. Nichols
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH
CIRCUIT
No. 72-6520 Argued: December 10, 1973 --- Decided: January 21, 1974
Syllabus (The Case)
The failure of the San Francisco school system to provide English language instruction
to approximately 1,800 students of Chinese ancestry who do not speak English, or to
provide them with other adequate instructional procedures, denies them a meaningful
opportunity to participate in the public educational program, and thus violates § 601 of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination based "on the grounds of race,
color, or national origin," in "any program or activity receiving Federal financial
assistance," and the implementing regulations of the Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare. Pp. 414 U. S. 565-569.
MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS delivered the opinion of the Court.
The Supreme Courts Decision
The San Francisco, California, school system was integrated in 1971 as a result of a
federal court decree, 339 F.Supp. 1315. See Lee v. Johnson, 404 U. S. 1215. Basic
English skills are at the very core of what these public schools teach. Imposition of a
requirement that, before a child can effectively participate in the educational program,
he must already have acquired those basic skills is to make a mockery of public
education. We know that those who do not understand English are certain to find their
classroom experiences wholly incomprehensible and in no way meaningful.
This class suit brought by non-English-speaking Chinese students against officials
responsible for the operation of the San Francisco Unified School District seeks relief
against the unequal educational opportunities, which are alleged to violate, inter alia, the
Fourteenth Amendment. No specific remedy is urged upon us. Petitioners ask only that
the Board of Education be directed to apply its expertise to the problem and rectify the
situation.
"[s]chool systems are responsible for assuring that students of a particular race, color, or
national origin are not denied the opportunity to obtain the education generally obtained
by other students in the system."
That section bans discrimination based "on the ground of race, color, or national origin,"
in "any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." The school district
involved in this litigation receives large amounts of federal financial assistance.
The text of the decision has been abrieviated.
http://supreme.justia.com/us/414/563/case.html
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Quote from Asian American Political Alliance Newspaper
“Historically, the racist power structure in America has denied the humanity of nonwhites peoples. We can see that Afro Americans have been killed, exploited, and
economically and psychologically exploited. In regards to Oriental Americans, this
denial of humanity presently takes only more subtle and implicit forms.
The Oriental living within the confines of United States boundaries (whether immigrant
or citizen whose birth place is on American soil) are in effect told by formal education,
the mass media and most forms of social organization to hate himself. He is taught that
the European way of viewing the world is the universally correct one, and that Eastern
thought is “exotic,” “weird,” and “slothful.” He has also been led to believe that his
language is no more than odd sounding, meaningless gibberish, instead of being
melodious and expressive. But worst of all, he is taught to hate the color of his skin and
the shape of his features. In short, he is, on this level, taught to view even the basic
aspect of his physical being as despicable and undesirable.” ---Revolutionary Historian
Steve Louie Collection, AAPA (Asian American Political Alliance) newspaper
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Asian Peace March
AAPA (Asian American Political Alliance) Newspaper, 1970
SAN FRANCISCO---More than 300 Asian Americans took part in the second Vietnam
Moratorium peace march here last Saturday according to Edison Uno, co-organizer of
the Ad Hoc Japanese Americans for Peace.
San Franciscan Uno, Ray Okumura of Berkeley and Kathy Reyes were the principal
backers of the ad hoc committee.
Asian marchers congregated early Saturday at the Japanese Cultural Center’s Peace
Pagoda and became a part of the parade for peace in San Francisco, one of the largest
public parades the city has ever witnessed.
Among Asian marchers were such heads of Asian American studies in Northern
California as Dr. Paul Takagi of U.C. Berkeley, Dr. James Hirabayashi of San Francisco
State College, and Prof. Isao Fujimoto of U.C. Davis. Local Churchmen include the
Revs. Nicholas Iyoya of Christ United Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Lloyd Wake of
Glide Memorial Church ad Roy Sano, chaplain of Mills College.
A post-march party was hosted by Aileen Yamaguchi and Marlene Tanioka, where most
Nisei and Sansei marchers gathered to compare experiences.
A number of Asian names were also among the more than 1,500 names of business and
professional people listed in full-page ads in the San Francisco metropolitan dailies
before the peace march.
They included Patricia Oyama Clarke and Don Fujumoto, artists; Joseph Morozumi,
attorney; Susumu Togasaki, Business; the Rev. Lloyd Wake, clergy; Susan Tanaka,
education; George Nagata, musician; Robert j. Kaneko, Dan Kataoka and Jean Saito,
probation officers; Chizuko Mayall, scientist; and Richard Aoki and Nozusuke Fukuda,
social workers.
–Kashu Manichi
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Japanese American Citizens League Memorandum
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